Oooh very nice! I'm loving your Isolde Hit!

My roses are not loving the heat quite so much, everything seems to be blooming and blowing out quickly. One or two of them are producing some nice blooms lately. I do have a ton of buds though, so hopefully I will have a bloom show soon :)

Very nice pics, Seil, I love Brilliant Pink Iceberg.

Nope, we're pretty well rose'd out for the summer, with the exception of Belinda's Dream and Abraham Darby; if I keep them deadheaded they'll continue to bloom. However, the rest will be back in the Fall!

Souvenir de la Malmaison is probably the star performer, but Burgundy Iceberg, Le Vesuve, Potter and Moore, Madame Dore, Sophy's Rose, Mutabilis, Mrs. B.R. Cant, Lavender Mist, Charmian, Julio Iglesias and Kronprinzessin Viktoria von Preussen and a few others are still going.

Thanks, Nummy! Yes, they do blow quicker in this heat but I'm out there about 5 times a day at least so I do catch them before they fry, lol!

Thank you, Krista! BPI will bloom through the heat but with less size and color.

Ogrose, but you'll have blooms in the late fall and early spring when mine are all dormant!

Wow, Ingrid, that's a pretty good list of bloomers! I just rooted some cuttings of Mutabilis that Kim sent me. I know it's going to be a long while before I see it bloom but I can't wait!

Your Brilliant Pink Iceberg is so crisp and cool looking in the heat. How do you do it? I guess it does take constant monitering. Most of my roses are either light colored Austins or dark purples and lavenders all of which fry up beautifully (if you like fried roses) in the heat. Frederic Mistral is blooming quite a bit because he starts so late. But the lovely blooms don't last very well. Ascot is still pumping its gorgeous dark blooms out, and Caramel Antique is blooming quite a bit which surprises me. Another oddball still blooming away is Kordes' Party Dress, a pale pink former florist rose, another surprise. Unfortunately, it's pretty thripped up. Evelyn and Memorial Day are still blooming and look pretty bedraggled. Big Purple, another late bloomer, is still flowering away. Compared to last year, though, this year has been a good rose season so far. Diane

Most of my roses have taken off for a south seas vacation to get away from our high 90s to over 100 degree heat--been over 100 for several weeks now and promises to be around 98 or 99 for the next 10 days!

Since I planted 3 Molineux together to create a strong statement in the far back garden, its lack of bloom right now certainly creates a big hole (in terms of color) in that gardenview.

The only blooming, to speak of, is my new Austin Lady of Shalott which hasn't seemed to notice it is HOT out there and one corner of my garden that gets several hours of mid-day shade. In that corner, coming into fresh bloom right now are Shakespeare 2000, Well-being, and Anne Boleyn--Oh, and cute little mini the name of which I've forgotten.

Elsewhere in the garden, Braveheart and Mystic Beauty and Elina have multiple blooms and are valiantly trying to keep on blooming, but are looking a bit battered by the heat.

The only reason some of my roses are blooming so well is because I've been watering religiously in this heat, but after I see the water bill and as the HOT summer starts wearing me down, I think more of the garden will go semi-dormant until cooler fall weather.

Kate

Thank you, Nana! I spend a fortune on water bills! And a lot of my roses are frying too. I haven't had a decent bloom on Ivory Tower or Elle all season. Memorial Day, Peace and Queen Elizabeth only fared marginally better. Surprisingly Garden Party has been the best of the fair ones.

Thanks, Kate! I hope the heat subsides some and your water bills go down too!

Kate, seeing your mention of of a mini blooming away in the heat, reminded me that I have a grocery store mini doing the same thing--it's covered with blooms. Is this common with minis? I know so little about them. Maybe I should invest in a few more to keep things colorful during the hot weather. Diane

I'm no expert on minis--but I have 7 Sweet Dianas (yellow) that are almost always in bloom and are blooming right now through the hot weather. I also have 4 Green Ice (white) that bloom fairly regularly although not heavily. And then I have the one I referred to above--called Little Sunset--that blooms in cycles but blooms heavily and is quick to repeat. So my experience has been that the minis are unstoppable bloomers!

And cute as the dickens!

Kate

Garden Party seems to love the heat, as do First & Foremost, Renegade, and my 2 climbers, Harlekin & Night Owl. Folklore is growing and producing like mad, but the blooms are a bit smaller. Tropicana does excellent in the heat as well. Rainbow's End seems to like it, as does Love and Veterans' Honor.

Ones that aren't responding well are Neptune, Blue Girl (uggh, the mauves hate it), Dark Night, and Paradise Found.

Our next water bill will rival our house payment.

Our next water bill will rival our house payment.

LOL--know what you mean, flaura!!!!!

Kate

The temps of the high 90s and low 100s are my norm for the summer months, with no let up except at night. I've learned that the roses with heavy petal substance and dense foliage stand up to the heat the best and that's why I don't grow ogrs... that and the curculios.

To help the roses handle the heat and to have the blooms last longer in my more arid climate, I spray down the bushes daily when the high temps hit. (I know most peole don't have time for this. ) My theory,unproven, is that plants absorb moisture through their leaves and by spraying them, the plant doesn't have to pull all of the moisture to the top of the plant from the roots. It does seem to help.

Also, with dry arid heat, it seems to be a good defense against spider mites.

I do grow a lot of minis, and it's the plants that have the heavier petal substance that do the best. Of course, there are exceptions. Any time you say that something is true about roses, there are roses that prove you wrong.

All of my roses are grown in full sun in a heat pit.

I manage my water bills by estimating my watering cost for the whole year and pay the same amount to our local water company every month. Going into summer, I usually have a fine credit balance. So far, there's always been a little credit left by the end of the rose season.

Good luck with your roses.

Smiles,
Lyn

Nana, I've found that the more decorative formed minis bloom almost constantly for me. The ones that have more exhibition form bloom in cycles like the HTs. But they do have a quicker cycle. My Softee is never without blooms on it!

Flaura, my Folklore just bloomed out but I see it already has new growth coming on it! I agree the mauve ones are slower to repeat and don't care for the heat much. I only have Angel Face and Paradise but neither of them is doing anything right now. If they didn't have leaves I'd swear they were dormant.

I agree, Lyn, the heavy, thick petaled roses do much better in high heat. Veterans' Honor and Red Intuition didn't have a single dark spot or crisp edge on them in this heat. But I was bery surprised to see that both Julia Child and Golden Celebration have done well too. Yes, the blooms opened quickly but the petals still looked fresh and not wilted or shriveled like Elle's did.

I also agree with giving them a shower!!! I've been doing that for several years now and have found that they do better in a number of ways. I have less insect problems and diseases and the roses look fresher and healthier all the time. Roses do absorb moisture through their leaves and even the canes so a good shower does help them maintain their cool. I know it does for me! I've been using the sprinklers to water the street bed because I don't have soakers for it yet and I always run through it...you know...to adjust it, lol!

We just got electronic water metering in our city. They sent me a notice that I had unusually high water usage and to check for dripping faucets or pipe leaks. Yeah, it's leaking all right. All over my roses!

I had been pretty religious in years past about NOT watering any of the girls from overhead (because of BS, fungus, et al), then I started having aphid problems and other little pesky critters up & about the buds. Now I go ahead & spray them down, avoiding only light-colored blooms.

Dormant is exactly how all the mauves are behaving right now. I remember I had posted a similar problem last year about Blue Girl during triple-digit heat. I don't think I'll be ordering any more mauve HT's as I don't care too much for this trait. If this heat were a fluke it wouldn't concern me, but we go through this every year.

Veterans' Honor has been bullet proof, as you said. Another one that's just going madcap right now is my Kanegem shrub--loaded with perfectly-formed, screaming orange blooms at the moment with thick and sturdy petals. Alas, no fragrance whatsoever.